And to be fair, his starting character concept actually makes for a decent protagonist. 'My Family Was Murdered, I Must Now Avenge Them' is literally the plot of how many stories? Even leading into all of the revelations and shit behind the massacre, Sasuke's plot line makes for an interesting tale of it's own.

Or it would have, if Orochimaru hadn't been a shitstain and Sasuke hadn't gone off the frickin' deep end.

 

Team 7: A Retelling - Sasuke sends a scroll full of information back to his younger self, who then decides to befriend Naruto and Sakura. I believe Sakura also has Hyōton.

This fic is right in the guilty pleasure zone.

 

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11267384/1/Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro is a decent Shikamaru fanfic. The main selling point is that Shikamaru is highly motivated and it show badass he can be when you combine that with his intellect. But it still has some cliches that might turn some people away. Overall a must-read for a Shikamaru fan.

 

Can anyone help me out, I've been looking for a certain Naruto fic that I've been wanting to reread for a while now.

All I can recall was that the scale of the Chunin exams was expanded and for one of the trials the author had Naruto run a ninja marathon by not not stopping to rest.

 

Likely Shinobi: Team 7.

 

Talking of other characters, are there any good fics where Itachi is either the Hokage or a Joinin Sensei, preferably Naruto's?

 

The Reluctant Hokage is a very good Itachi is the Hokage fic.

I've read one or two fics where Itachi is a Joinin Sensei, but from what I remember they were pretty trash.

 

Daybreak: Part 1 has Itachi as a jounin sensei and candidate to be the Hokage. But I would strongly recommend reading the prequel, One Small Kindness, first which is a gem in itself.

 

Gallyrat's Team 7, as recommended above, has Itachi as the Eighth Hokage.

Overall, Team 7 is an incredibly pleasing read - exhibiting refreshing novelty in its worldbuilding, and yet also having that familiar sense-of-wonder-and-adventure that canon had but which so many Naruto fics lose with their grimdarkness.

Oh yeah, and Team 7 has one of the most beautiful pieces of writing I've seen - read the Interlude on the Hokages, and guarantee you'll want to read the rest, if you've not already done so.

 

Dipping my foot further into Naruto fanfics after reading Inert's 'Hurricane Suite' in the WbA. I was wondering if there are good stories where Jiraiya is mentoring Naruto earlier or with more focus on the mentor aspect. AUs would be preferred.

Thanks in advance mates.

 

Across Dimensions: Parting Reality's Veil by Taliath is sort of what you're after.

 

Where the Heart Is by Kwizzic has Jiraya mentoring Naruto.

 

Where The Heart Is is pretty good, but kwizzic just went on hiatus due to real life stuff, unfortunately.

 

I read this based off the interlude and about the only complaint I have with the fic is that it feels like Naruto is shoved to the side compared to Sakura and Sasuke.

 

I'm quite certain they get roughly equal screentime? As befitting a story that calls itself Team 7, I suppose.

I get what you mean though - I think it's more of the fact that we're used to Naruto getting the lion's share (or at least more than any other character), and so anything less, even equal amounts, feels unnaturally short and shafting.

 

Looking through my Naruto favorites, I've gotta say that either my taste has improved or I was bored as hell when I added them. The only ones I recommend are Tale of the Setting Sun by PK Samurai and Hurricane Suite by Inert aka Dr. Snakes. A lot of Naruto fics have annoying humor and bashing.

 

I personally had the same issue but I found it was less to do with the screen time, and more to do with the development of the main three characters. It almost feels as though Naruto's growth is being deliberately ignored in order to make Sakura and Sasuke feel more badass. Naruto hadn't been making the strides of progress that his teammates were and I personally found that frustrating. Granted it has been a while since I read the story, due to slow updates but I distinctly remember having that impression.

 

One Hundred and One Lifetimes by Fresh C. (60K words, updated June 2016)

Read this the other day and while it was not greatest thing since sliced bread, it did have a cool premise with a kinda episodic style.

The core idea of the story is that Naruto created 100 clones at the start of the training trip, that spread across the nations each with separate missions but to ultimately hide the real Naruto.

 

Spoiler

It's more the decision to make Jiraiya Sakura's mentor. It feels wrong for her to be learning the rasengan and I presume eventually toad summoning. The lack of contact with Naruto despite presumable still being his godfather is weird. Sasuke has his clan and people like Shisui to get personal attention off of. Naruto has no one, his saving grace is the weird eldritch Kyuubi.

 

Gallyrats Team 7 has given me a rare case of blue balls. It's one of my favorite Naruto fics I've ever encountered. Almost Menace level. Amazing world building, and the only caveat is Jiraiya mentoring Sakura. Otherwise it's pretty stellar.